Auction Highlights
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Egyptian Granite Head of a Dignitary
Sold for (Inc. bp): £28,600
Carved with soft facial features and carefully executed cosmetic lines around the eye, earring, and carefully detailed duplex wig with gently wavy curls; likely from the Ramesside Period; mounted on a custom-made stand. -
Etruscan Bronze Statuette of Herakles
Sold for (Inc. bp): £18,200
Modelled in the round with a muscular nude body, his club resting on his shoulder and the hair dressed in rows of tight, close-set curls underneath the Nemean lionskin hood with cloak billowing over his left arm, the paws tied across his chest; mounted on a custom-made display stand. -
Roman Marble Portrait of a Boy as Worshipper of Isis
Sold for (Inc. bp): £17,550
Carved head of a prepubescent worshipper of Isis, with soft facial features, long nose, small downturned mouth, heavy-lidded eyes, the whole giving the face a sombre or mournful appearance; the hair textured to indicate a short cut and combed forward across the scalp, sidelock above the right ear; mounted on a 16th century carved breccia upper body with leather cuirass and pteruges to right shoulder, cloak draped across the shoulders and fastened at the clavicle on the right side with a disc-brooch; socle base; some restoration. -
Larger Than Life-Size Roman Bronze Sandaled Foot
Sold for (Inc. bp): £39,000
Modelled in the round and originally part of a monumental statue, the naturalistic right foot encased in a trochades leather sandal with median reversed tongue secured with side straps and thick looped laces; the thick platform sole slightly curved, toes and nails well defined; mounted on a substantial custom-made display stand. -
Life-Size Roman Marble Sleeping Girl from a Sarcophagus Lid
Sold for (Inc. bp): £20,800
Modelled in the half-round, nude with eyelids half-closed in sleep; a drapery partly covering the head and wrapping around the lower body under the hips; the hairstyle similar to those of the Antonine Dynasty, the peaceful face supported by the hands and the ear pierced to accept an earring; iron reinforcing rod to the feet and the right arm's armilla a later replacement; upper head restored in Parian marble. -
Byzantine Porphyry Relief with Cross Surrounded by Two Birds
Sold for (Inc. bp): £28,600
An imposing panel divided to four sections by a central cross on a stepped pedestal, the lower and upper arm with branch-like extensions; the upper quadrants with a circlet surrounding a palm tree-shaped motif; each lower quadrant with a bird in profile facing back; mounted on a custom-made display stand. -
Carved Marble Memento Mori Skull
Sold for (Inc. bp): £16,900
Carved skull on a short neck with musculature and blood vessels; mandible in place with some teeth in sockets, wisps of hair adhering to the dome of the skull; one zygomatic bone partly absent; square-section socle base. -
'The Kelton' Gandharan Head of a Bodhisattva
Sold for (Inc. bp): £24,700
Carved in the half-round head of a Bodhisattva (probably Maitreya) with fine detailing to the arched brow, aquiline nose, neat moustache and full lips; the eyes heavily lidded, urna to the forehead, long open lobes to the ears; the hair in multi-stranded curling locks gathered into an ushnisha with brow-band below; heavily cleaned, conserved, and mounted on a custom-made stand; supplied with original old wooden base with collector's label: 'Head of Bodhisattva / Fine grain schist / Gandhara, Northwest Pakistan / 4th century'.
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Natural History - Large Composite Fossil Mosasaur 'Marine Dinosaur' Teeth Assemblage
Cretaceous Period, 145-65 million years B.P.Sold for (Inc. bp): £65
An assemblage of Mosasaur prognathodon teeth, attached to a jaw-shaped matrix for display; all set in a composite matrix. 6.59 kg, 37 cm
From a Cambridgeshire, UK, collection.
The Mosasaur is an extinct, large marine reptile dinosaur with a snake-like body, long snout and paddle-like limbs. found worldwide, they competed with other well-known sea predators of the Late Cretaceous, such as plesiosaurs and ichthyosaurs, for food, existing primarily on a diet of ammonoids, cuttlefish and fish. -
Natural History - Historic Ulexite mineral Specimen Group
Sold for (Inc. bp): £13
Comprising two colourless samples. 57 grams total, 37-47 mm
From Bolivia. Collected in person in 1968. From the private mineral collection of Stephen Atkinson, Harpenden, UK. Accompanied by a copy of a letter from the vendor giving details of him collecting these minerals throughout his life. -
Natural History - Large Quantity of Rose Quartz Crystal Chips
Sold for (Inc. bp): £7
Comprising variously sized chips for decorative use. 1 kg total, 1-16 mm
Ex Mineral Imports, London, UK. Gregory, Bottley & Lloyd (Gregory's). -
Natural History - Historic Galena Crystal Formation
Sold for (Inc. bp): £7
The tabular crystals on quartz matrix. 75 grams, 50 mm
From Nenthead, Cumberland, UK. Collected in person in 1965. From the private mineral collection of Stephen Atkinson, Harpenden, UK. Accompanied by a copy of a letter from the vendor giving details of him collecting these minerals throughout his life. -
Natural History - Historic 'Poland' Halite Mineral Specimen
Sold for (Inc. bp): £59
Displaying cubic greyish white, white and colourless crystals, collection number 583. 236 grams, 19.5 cm
Acquired on the UK mineral and fossil market, since 1970. From the historic mineral collection of Richard Valentine Cain, London, UK, thence by descent. Accompanied by an original historic index file card. -
Natural History - Historic Collection of Mineral Specimens
Sold for (Inc. bp): £7
Comprising: muscovite and quartz vein from North Transvaal, South Africa, collection number 222; quartz rosette, collection number 293; specular hematite from West Cumbria, England, collection number 370; bornite from Mexico, collection number 43; rose quartz from Minais Gerais, Brazil, collection number 412; chalcopyrite from North Transvaal, South Africa, collection number 13; rose quartz from North Transvaal, South Africa, collection number 205; diorite from England, collection number 185; chalcopyrite in baryte from North Transvaal, South Africa, collection number 237. 571 grams total, 39-88 mm
Acquired on the UK mineral and fossil market, since 1970. From the historic mineral collection of Richard Valentine Cain, London, UK, thence by descent. Eight specimens accompanied by an original historic index file card. -
Natural History - Historic Mineral Specimen Collection
Sold for (Inc. bp): £7
Comprising: selenite wand from Mexico, collection number 622; calcite, collection number 592; blue laced agate from Mexico, collection number 318; arsenopyrite from Peru, collection number 486; aragonite, collection number 338; amethyst, collection number 319; quartz from Cornwall, England, collection number 295; chrysoprase from North Transvaal, South Africa, collection number 195; rhodochrosite on quartz from Peru, collection number 450. 628 grams total, 1.9-33.5 cm
Acquired on the UK mineral and fossil market, since 1970. From the historic mineral collection of Richard Valentine Cain, London, UK, thence by descent. Seven specimens accompanied by an original historic index file card. -
Natural History - Fossil North African 'T-Rex' Tooth
Cretaceous Period, circa 145-93 million years B.P.Sold for (Inc. bp): £169
Showing some good serrations, from Carcharodontosaurus saharicus. 2.83 grams, 29 mm
From a Cambridgeshire, UK, collection.
The Carcharodontosaurus saharicus was one of the largest predators (larger than its distant North American T-Rex cousin) of all time and is also related to Allosaurus and the South American Giganotosaurus. -
Natural History - Historic Collection of Fossils
Paleozoic-Miocene Period, 541-5 million years B.P.Sold for (Inc. bp): £33
Comprising: three molluscs, echinoidea, graptolite, five ammonite fragments, a nummulite, and two coral specimens. 826 grams total, 28-80 mm
Acquired on the UK mineral and fossil market, since 1970. From the historic mineral collection of Richard Valentine Cain, London, UK, thence by descent. Eleven specimens accompanied by an original historic information card. -
Natural History - Fossil Mosasaur 'Marine Dinosaur' Tooth on Composite Matrix
Cretaceous Period, circa 145-65 million years B.P.Sold for (Inc. bp): £7
Showing the majority of the tooth and some root. 643 grams, 13.8 cm
From a Cambridgeshire, UK, collection. -
Natural History - Fossil Leaves and Snout Beetle in Matrix
Eocene Period, circa 48 million years B.P.Sold for (Inc. bp): £234
Rectangular sedimentary block with embedded leaves with evidence for damage by weevils feeding on the lakeside vegetation. 702 grams, 13.7 cm
From Green River shales, Wyoming, U.S.A. From a Leicestershire, UK, collection. -
Natural History - Polished Fossil Orthoceras Coaster Set
Devonian Period, circa 417-354 million years B.P.Sold for (Inc. bp): £33
Comprising six coasters on a stand carved from fossiliferous stone showing orthoceras specimens. 1.16 kg total, 11.4 cm wide
From a Cambridgeshire, UK, collection.